{"product_id":"a-house-is-a-body-stories-9781643751450","title":"A House Is a Body: Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the 2021 PEN\/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection \u003cbr\u003e Finalist for the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times \u003c\/i\u003eArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eA House Is a Body\u003c\/i\u003e will not simply be talked about as one of the greatest short story collections of the 2020s; it will change the way all stories--short and long--are told, written, and consumed. There is nothing, no emotion, no tiny morsel of memory, no touch, that this book does not take seriously. Yet, \u003ci\u003eA House Is a Body\u003c\/i\u003e might be the most fun I've ever had in a short story collection.\" --Kiese Laymon, author of \u003ci\u003eHeavy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Dreams collide with reality, modernity with antiquity, and myth with identity in the twelve arresting stories of \u003ci\u003eA House Is a Body\u003c\/i\u003e. Set in the United States and India, Swamy's characters grapple with motherhood, relationships, and their bodies to reveal small but intense internal moments of beauty, pain, and power that contain the world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \"Earthly Pleasures,\" a young painter living alone in San Francisco begins a secret romance with one of India's biggest celebrities, and desire and ego are laid bare. In \"A Simple Composition,\" a husband's professional crisis leads to his wife's discovery of a dark, ecstatic joy. And in the title story, an exhausted mother watches, hypnotized by fear, as a California wildfire approaches her home. Immersive and assured, provocative and probing, these are stories written with the edge and precision of a knife blade. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA House Is a Body\u003c\/i\u003e introduces a bold and original voice in fiction, from a writer at the start of a stellar career. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Don't miss Shruti Swamy's debut novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Archer\u003c\/i\u003e (available September 7, 2021), which has already been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSwamy, Shruti:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eShruti Swamy\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the story collection \u003ci\u003eA House Is a Body\u003c\/i\u003e, which was a finalist for the PEN\/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times \u003c\/i\u003eArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and was longlisted for the Story Prize. Her work has been published by the \u003ci\u003eParis Review\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMcSweeney's\u003c\/i\u003e and anthologized in the \u003ci\u003eO. Henry Prize Stories\u003c\/i\u003e. Her debut novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Archer\u003c\/i\u003e, was published by Algonquin Books in September 2021 and has been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She lives in San Francisco.","brand":"Algonquin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50510827389202,"sku":"9781643751450","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_780e5ea4-ce4c-4f8e-b2cc-5bacb66efb96.jpg?v=1730935675","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-house-is-a-body-stories-9781643751450","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}